Thank you for this.

Actually, it’s pronounced “Ronin the miniature Benedict Cumberbatch.”

Damn, sir. I don’t even watch football, but this is fantastic. Particularly:

Oh yeah, they’re a bunch of fucking assholes. But they’re assholes for a more fundamental reason than this article’s vague, “they hate us cuz they ain’t us” explanation.

Billy, you’re missing a huge piece of the story here — namely, the extent to which Barcelona have long tied the club’s identity with Catalan nationalism. That’s the whole genesis of their motto, “més que un club”... and it pisses the hell out of Espanyol fans, who resent the implication that supporting FCB is…

TOM BRADY WIRD GESACKT!!!! TOM BRADY WIRD GESACKT!!!! SIE HABEN TOM BRADY DEN BALL ABGEWÜRGT!!!!

Belated, but same! Although it does mess with my head a bit, since I’ve always assumed their town was a sort of Asbury Park-ish, Monmouth/Ocean County mid-Shore seaside resort.

“It’s outrageous that people pretend the erosion of civility and decency isn’t happening on the left—or, worse, that the erosion of those norms is a useful social tool for achieving a more progressive society.”

Fun fact: French coffee is harsh/bad because it’s suited to the French taste palate, which is used to coffee made from Robusta beans. Robusta beans are cheaper, and harsher-tasting than Arabica, but French people are used to them because Robusta was the standard bean grown in France’s former West and Central African…

I myself loved the time Christmas Hayes declared that Bernie Sandwiches won the New Hampshire primary.

Exactly this.

European football culture developed spontaneously and steadily over the course of more than a century.

People tend to forget just how bad Portugal was for a very, very long time. They had Luis Figo on the senior team for ten years before they even qualified for the WC in 02.

“It doesn’t. Have. To match.”

Seriously, though, I’d been avidly watching the qualifications, but until now the real ramifications hadn’t set in. The absence of so many regional heavyweights — Italy, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, the USA, Chile, the Netherlands — makes this bracket insane and also super exciting.

God, this looks like the messiest WC of all time and I cannot wait.

also this:

Yes, but would that well-tailored trench coat on a stick look half as pretty tied to Diana’s bed using the Lasso of Truth?

GOD FIRST MEGHAN MARKLE/PRINCE HARRY, AND NOW THIS — ALL MY FANFICTION IS COMING TRUE!!!

Same. Also, bitchin’ username — Pacey forever!!!